In the medical field, particularly in surgical operations, or also in intensive care medicine, various kinds of electrical and electronic medical appliances are often needed, for example in order to supply energy to endoscopes or surgical instruments and to control them, and also in order to monitor vital functions of a patient. Such appliances should be able to be arranged close to the patient in a way that takes up as little space as possible, without impeding access to the patient, and they should also be able to be fitted in place, connected and operated easily and safely and, if appropriate, should be able to be quickly exchanged.
It is known to install medical appliances of this kind on a carriage, for example, on stationary operating theater furniture, or also on one or more consoles held on a pivotable ceiling arm fastened to the ceiling of an operating theater. In these cases, however, the appliances are not sufficiently secured against falling or against unauthorized removal. The consoles themselves, which are needed to install the appliances, take up a considerable amount of space and increase the overall weight of the arrangement. The electrical attachments for mains voltage and data lines are arranged freely accessibly, and the corresponding lines have to be attached individually to the respectively corresponding attachments. For plugging and unplugging electrical lines or light-guiding cables, and in further maneuvers, two hands are often needed, in order to be able to apply the necessary opposing force and to avoid undesired movement of the appliance. The freely accessible lines and the large overall surface area of the appliance housings cause increased cleaning work.
EP 2 058 911 A1 discloses a medical supply unit for supplying power and transferring data in medical apparatus, which supply unit comprises an elongate carrier, with a coupling device that extends along the carrier and that has at least two continuous, electrically insulated conductor rails. The coupling device is designed as a hollow rail, with the conductor rails arranged on the inner face thereof. A modular component has a coupling piece, which produces the contact with the conductor rails. Replacement of an individual medical appliance is not easily possible here. Moreover, the weight that can be taken up by the coupling device, and the number and nature of the connections that can be produced in this way for power supply and data transfer, are relatively limited.
According to DE 699 35 622 T2, an attachment plate for receiving an instrument comprises a plate, a rail mounted on the plate at a distance from the plate, and a signal port secured in the plate, which signal port can be coupled to an electrical port of the housing of the instrument. Here too, the weight of the instruments that can be taken up is very limited. Moreover, the instruments on the attachment plate are not sufficiently secured against falling or against unauthorized removal.